Graphical user interface to facilitate routing of a physical connection in a hierarchical integrated circuit design

ABSTRACT

Systems and techniques are described for transparently editing physical data in hierarchical IC designs. Some embodiments allow a user to access objects at any level of the physical hierarchy and to specify a particular editing operation (move, rotate, delete, cut, split, etc.) relative to the top-level block. The embodiments can automatically transform and apply the editing operations in the context of the block where the edited object resides. Systems and techniques for automatic context selection, logical connection analysis, cross hierarchical routing, transparent hierarchical routing, and maintaining physical connectivity across hierarchy boundaries are also described.

RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is a divisional of pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/076,372, entitled “Transparent Editing ofPhysical Data in Hierarchical Integrated Circuit Design,” by inventorKarlo Tskitishvili, Jeffrey J. Loescher, Luis D. Guilin and Paul M.Furnanz, which was filed on 21 Mar. 2016, the contents of which areherein incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/076,372 claims benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/136,375, filed on 20 Mar. 2015, bythe same inventors, the contents of which are herein incorporated byreference in their entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

This disclosure relates to a graphical user interface (GUI) fordesigning an integrated circuit (IC). More specifically, this disclosurerelates to using a GUI to facilitate routing of a physical connection ina hierarchical IC design.

Related Art

Advances in process technology and an almost unlimited appetite forconsumer electronics have fueled a rapid increase in the size andcomplexity of IC designs. Software tools can be used to perform variousoperations on IC designs, e.g., creating and editing schematics andlayouts, synthesizing, optimizing, and verifying circuit designs, etc.What are needed are user-friendly software tools that enable a circuitdesigner to create circuit designs that reduce the overall circuitdesign time and/or improve the overall quality of results (QoR).

SUMMARY

Some embodiments described herein provide circuit design tools forediting objects in a circuit design. Some embodiments can create asecond object based on a first object in the circuit design, whereinsaid creating comprises applying a sequence of one or more geometrictransformations to the first object. In some embodiments, the firstobject is represented in a first coordinate system associated with alower level in the physical hierarchy, wherein the second object isrepresented in a second coordinate system associated with a top level inthe physical hierarchy, and wherein applying the sequence of one or moregeometric transformations transforms a representation of the firstobject from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system.Next, the embodiments can apply one or more edits to the second object(e.g., based on user input), thereby obtaining an edited second object.Applying one or more edits to the second object can include, but is notlimited to, moving the second object to a new location, rotating thesecond object, resizing the second object, and creating a new objectwithin the second object. The embodiments can then apply the sequence ofone or more geometric transformations in reverse order to the editedsecond object, thereby obtaining an edited first object. The embodimentscan then save the edited first object in the circuit design.

Some embodiments can display a logical connection in a circuit design.Specifically, some embodiments can trace a connection from a firstcircuit object to a second circuit object in the circuit design, whereinthe connection passes through at least one physical hierarchy boundary.Next, the process can display a direct line (e.g., a straight linehaving an arrow that indicates signal flow direction) from the firstcircuit object to the second circuit object in a visual representationof the circuit design.

Some embodiments can facilitate cross hierarchical routing.Specifically, some embodiments can receive a cursor location thatindicates an end of a partially routed physical connection from a firstobject to a second object in a circuit design layout. Next, theembodiments can determine a suggested route to extend the partiallyrouted physical connection based on a current physical hierarchycontext. The embodiments can then display the suggested route in avisual representation of the circuit design.

Some embodiments can perform transparent hierarchical routing.Specifically, some embodiments can trace a logical connection from afirst circuit object to a second circuit object in the circuit design,wherein the logical connection passes through at least one physicalhierarchy boundary. Next, the embodiments can create a physicalconnection corresponding to the logical connection in a physicalhierarchy context that is common to both the first circuit object andthe second circuit object. The embodiments can then push down thephysical connection into the respective physical hierarchy levels alongthe physical connection route. Specifically, pushing down the physicalconnection into the respective physical hierarchy levels along thephysical connection route can comprise (1) moving transparent gates tobe along the physical connection route, (2) creating physical pins onphysical hierarchy block boundaries along the physical connection route,(3) partitioning the physical connection at the physical hierarchyboundaries to obtain routing objects, and (4) assigning each routingobject to a corresponding net in the corresponding physical hierarchyalong the physical connection route.

Some embodiments can maintain physical connectivity across hierarchicalboundaries. Specifically, some embodiments can determine that a firstcircuit object has a physical connection with a second circuit object,wherein the physical connection crosses at least one physical hierarchyboundary. Next, the embodiments can receive a request to apply a firstediting operation to the first circuit object. The embodiments can thendetermine a second editing operation based on the first editingoperation. Next, the embodiments can apply the second editing operationto the second circuit object so that the physical connection between thefirst circuit object and the second circuit object is maintained acrossthe at least one physical hierarchy boundary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate blocks in the IC design hierarchy in accordancewith some embodiments described herein.

FIGS. 2A-2G illustrate how a sandbox can be used for transparent editingin accordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 2H illustrates a process for editing an object in a circuit designthat has multiple physical hierarchy levels in accordance with someembodiments described herein.

FIG. 3A illustrates a connection across multiple hierarchies inaccordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 3B illustrates a net connection that skips hierarchies inaccordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 3C illustrates a process for displaying a logical connection in acircuit design in accordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate cross hierarchical routing in accordance withsome embodiments described herein.

FIG. 4E illustrates a process for facilitating cross hierarchicalrouting in accordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate transparent hierarchical routing in accordancewith some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 5D illustrates a process for transparent hierarchical routing inaccordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 6A illustrates how physical connectivity can be maintained acrossmultiple hierarchies in accordance with some embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 6B illustrates how abutted objects can be moved together inaccordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 6C illustrates a process for maintaining physical connectivityacross hierarchical boundaries in accordance with some embodimentsdescribed herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates an IC design editing system in accordance with someembodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled inthe art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context ofa particular application and its requirements. Various modifications tothe disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied toother embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is notlimited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scopeconsistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

Overview of Circuit Design

Circuit design software tools can be used to create a circuit design.Once the circuit design is finalized, it can undergo fabrication,packaging, and assembly to produce integrated circuit chips. A circuitdesign flow can include multiple steps, and each step can involve usingone or more circuit design software tools. Some examples of circuitdesign steps and the associated software tools are described below.These examples are for illustrative purposes only and are not intendedto limit the embodiments to the forms disclosed.

Some circuit design software tools enable circuit designers to describethe functionality that the circuit designers want to implement. Thesetools also enable circuit designers to perform what-if planning torefine functionality, check costs, etc. During logic design andfunctional verification, the HDL (hardware description language), e.g.,SystemVerilog, code can be written and the design can be checked forfunctional accuracy, e.g., the design can be checked to ensure that itproduces the correct outputs.

During synthesis and design for test, the HDL code can be translated toa netlist using one or more circuit design software tools. Further, thenetlist can be optimized for the target technology, and tests can bedesigned and implemented to check the finished chips. During netlistverification, the netlist can be checked for compliance with timingconstraints and for correspondence with the HDL code.

During design planning, an overall floorplan for the chip can beconstructed and analyzed for timing and top-level routing. Duringphysical implementation, circuit elements can be positioned in thelayout and can be electrically coupled. Some embodiments describedherein provide software tools that can be used during design planning.Specifically, some embodiments described herein enable transparentediting of physical data in hierarchical integrated circuit design.

During analysis and extraction, the circuit's functionality can beverified at a transistor level and parasitics can be extracted. Duringphysical verification, the design can be checked to ensure correctnessfor manufacturing, electrical issues, lithographic issues, andcircuitry.

During resolution enhancement, geometric manipulations can be performedon the layout to improve manufacturability of the design. During maskdata preparation, the design can be “taped-out” to produce masks whichare used during fabrication.

Overview of Circuit Design Editing

A top-level IC design is typically partitioned into physical hierarchiesor blocks in much the same way that a neighborhood can be divided intomany blocks based on the neighborhood's streets. Within each block, manystructures can be present. In keeping with the analogy, the structureswithin a neighborhood could include houses, detached garages, driveways,swimming pools, backyard gardens, and the like. Analogously, in an ICdesign, each block can include simple structures such as transistors,capacitors, conductors, open areas, etc., and also other structures suchas logic gates that can themselves include multiple simple structures(e.g., a logic gate can include multiple transistors). These structuresare described by data that is stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium. For example, when the software tool isexecuting, the data can be stored in physical memory, and the final datacan be written to disk for storage. The data for each block of an ICdesign typically contains large numbers of logic gates and connectingshapes (e.g., wires or conductors that can be used to electricallyconnect an output pin of one gate with an input pin of another gate).The structures and shapes (e.g., blocks, conductors, etc.) can beassociated with physical coordinates expressed in a Cartesian (X,Y)plane. When the IC design is hierarchical, each block can have its owncoordinate system. The data for the circuit design is also hierarchical,i.e., the data for the entire IC design can be thought of as a set ofdata portions, wherein each data portion represents that data within ablock in the top-level IC design.

When it is time to create a layout (or plot plan), the data within eachblock may be processed independently or simultaneously within thecontext of their parent block's hierarchy. A spectrum of choices areavailable for editing IC design data. At one extreme in the spectrum is“flat editing” where the data of each block is fully instantiated withinthe top-level IC design as if the IC design did not have any hierarchyin the first place. Flat editing is very data intensive and is thus veryslow and requires large amounts of computer resources.

Simultaneous processing of different blocks is typically disfavored byIC layout designers, who are responsible for making sure that eachstructure in a block is properly positioned and that properfunctionality will be achieved when the IC design is complete.

IC layout designers often need to create and manipulate data acrossmultiple levels of blocks in the physical hierarchy. In existingsoftware tools, this requires them to spend significant effortnavigating through the various blocks in their IC design and managingthe consistency of the changes across the various blocks.

Conventional software tools facilitate dealing with physical hierarchyby using a technique called Edit-In-Place (EIP). In this technique, theuser is able to pick a sub-block for editing (the selected sub-block canbe referred to as the “EIP block”) and see its content within thecontext of the parent hierarchy. However, EIP does not let the user tooperate on objects outside the boundary of the current EIP block.Moreover all object coordinates are relative to the current EIP block,and thus require manual translation when something has to be modifiedrelative to objects in different hierarchies. For these reasons, EIP ispoorly adapted to deal with issues that arise when dealing with objectsthat cross hierarchical boundaries.

Overview of Transparent Editing of Circuit Design Data

Some embodiments described herein provide techniques and systems fortransparently creating and editing shapes at the proper level of thephysical hierarchy. In this disclosure, terms such as “transparent,”“transparency,” and other similar terms, when used in the context ofediting IC designs, mean that user can access objects at any level ofthe physical hierarchy and can specify a particular editing operation(move, rotate, delete, cut, split, etc.) relative to the top-levelblock. The system (e.g., the software tool executing on a suitablehardware computing platform) automatically transforms and applies theoperation to the block where the edited object resides.

Some embodiments include a data structure for temporary storage ofedited objects, which is referred to as a sandbox. The data structurecan be stored in computer memory that is accessible to a processor, andthe editing operations can be performed on this data structure by theprocessor. Specifically, the software tools can perform geometrictransformations of physical shapes in the sandbox, and the sandboxallows the creation and editing of these shapes using the top-levelcoordinate system with no additional work on the part of the user.

Some embodiments provide techniques and systems for automaticallyselecting the proper context (e.g., the appropriate physical hierarchylevel) for newly created objects and constraining the edit operationswithin the object hierarchy scope, based on the location or objectsrelated to the objects being manipulated.

Some embodiments allow physical connectivity to be generated in a simpleflat manner. The block boundaries do not limit the connectivity andphysical connections can be maintained across the hierarchy whenmanipulating objects that interact with the boundary of a physicalhierarchy.

Some embodiments provide techniques and systems for analyzing logicalconnections (tracing) between gates and/or blocks of differenthierarchies and defining a transparent (or flat) net that includes theset of points to be physically connected across the physical hierarchy.Those points are used for creating physical cross hierarchicalconnections referred as routes. The routes could be created in eachblock independently or they could be created at the top level and thenpushed into the corresponding blocks. When pushed into the blocks, theroutes are sliced and assigned to nets within each block as appropriate,and the physical connection points (which are referred to as pins) areadded or updated on the boundaries of each hierarchy block.

Together, these features enable transparent hierarchy editing that letsthe user edit shapes within differing levels of physical hierarchy asthough the design hierarchy had been completely flattened. In realityhowever, the physical hierarchy has not been flattened, i.e., most ofthe circuit design data is not instantiated within the top-level ICdesign. Some embodiments only instantiate the data for the blocks thatare required for performing the editing operation; the data for otherblocks is not instantiated. In this manner, embodiments described hereinprovide the benefits of flat editing (e.g., ease of use etc.) withoutsuffering from the drawbacks (e.g., without requiring large amounts ofcomputer resources).

The following conventions and notations are used in this disclosure inreference to the figures. All depicted objects lie within the parentblock's design boundary unless noted otherwise. All coordinates areexpressed in a Cartesian plane. All points are shown as a set of twonumbers within curly braces, i.e., {x y}. All rectangles are shown asset of two points: low left and upper right corner, i.e., {{x1 y1} {x2y2}}. All names without the forward slash symbol (i.e., “/”) representthe object name within the corresponding parent hierarchy. All namescontaining forward slashes represent full hierarchical name of anobject, e.g., in the name “A/B/C,” “A” represents a top-level block, “B”represents an intermediate-level block, and “C” is the bottom-levelobject (this is the object that is being referred to).

In IC physical design, each level of the physical hierarchy typicallyhas its own coordinate system based on the Cartesian plane. The plane islabeled with X- and Y-axes, and an {X Y} coordinate pair specifies aunique point in the level.

Transparent Editing of Physical Data in Hierarchical IC Design

As we create multiple levels of the physical hierarchy, an instance of areference physical block is placed at a point in the parent coordinatesystem, and has an orientation (rotation) that can be applied to it aswell. Because of this, there is a need to transform coordinates from thelower-level block into the coordinate system of the higher-level block.This is a long-standing concept in IC physical design and in general foranything hierarchical with physical extent.

FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate blocks in the IC design hierarchy in accordancewith some embodiments described herein. In FIG. 1A, top-level block “A”of size {32 24} contains an instance if block “B” {{7 4} {22 19}}rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise. The size of block “B” is {15 15}(the dimensions can be determined from the two corners of block “B”:22−7=15 and 19−4=15). The X- and Y-axes of blocks “A” and “B” areillustrated in FIG. 1A. In FIG. 1B, block “B” with size {15 15} containsobject “C” (which itself could be a block at a lower hierarchy level)with coordinates {{1 1} {6 8}}. If the contents of block “B” areinstantiated within top block “A” we would get the situation depicted inFIG. 1C. Such a hierarchy is called unfolded physical hierarchy orvirtually flat hierarchy.

When there are multiple levels of physical hierarchy, geometrictransformations (or “transforms” for short) must be concatenated for usewith lower-level physical data. In the example shown in FIGS. 1A-1C, thetransforms (e.g., translation, rotation, etc.) for the instance of “B”must be concatenated with the transforms for the instance of “C” inorder to construct a transform that can be used to translate physicalcoordinates in the coordinate system for “C” into the coordinate systemfor the top design “A.” As a result of the transformation, thecoordinates for object “C” will be {{14 5} {21 9}}. These coordinatescan then be used by a graphical user interface (GUI) of a circuit designediting tool to draw the data on the screen as depicted in FIG. 1C.

As mentioned above, the conventional technique to facilitate dealingwith physical hierarchy is the so-called Edit-In-Place (EIP)methodology. In this methodology, the user is able to select a block ora sub-block for editing and see its content within the context of parenthierarchy. However EIP does not let the user to operate objects outsidethe boundary of current EIP block. Moreover, all object coordinates arerelative to current EIP block and thus require manual translation whensomething has to be modified relative to objects in differenthierarchies. The following paragraphs explain, among other things, howthe virtual flat editing concept solves the issues that occur whendealing with objects cross hierarchically.

Sandbox Infrastructure

Some embodiments feature a “sandbox infrastructure” (or “sandbox” forshort), which can include a data structure for temporary storage ofedited objects, and an application programming interface (API) tomanipulate the objects in the data structure. In some embodiments, thesandbox can be the core infrastructure for editing with transparenthierarchy. The sandbox (i.e., the data structure for temporary storageof edited objects and the accompanying API) can be used by a softwaretool for performing geometric transformations of physical shapes in anIC design, and the sandbox can allow the creation and editing of theseshapes using the top-level coordinate system with no additional work onthe part of the user.

Specifically, when a design object is chosen for editing, the designobject can be placed in the sandbox storage data structure (which may belocated in physical memory in a computer system). At the moment ofloading the object into the storage, the sandbox can transform thecoordinates of the object from the corresponding level of the physicalhierarchy into the top-level physical hierarchy coordinate system. Fromthis point onwards, the object becomes a sandbox object, and the sandboxobject can have the following pieces of information associated with it:(1) a pointer to the original object in the IC design, (2) a pointer toan instance of a block to which the original object (and therefore thesandbox object) belongs, and (3) a cumulative transformation from thehierarchical level of the original object to the top hierarchical level.

Once the sandbox object has been created, all of the editing operationsare performed (i.e., through the sandbox API) on the sandbox object inthe top-level coordinate system. Upon completion of the editingoperations on the sandbox object, the coordinates of the sandbox objectundergo a reverse cumulative transformation (e.g., by applying thecumulative transformation associated with the sandbox object in reverseorder) from the top-level coordinate system to the hierarchy level wherethe original object resided. Then, the modified object (i.e., theresulting object after applying the reverse cumulative transformation tothe modified sandbox object) can be saved within the correspondingblock. In this manner, each object in the sandbox may have its ownphysical context and therefore its own separate transformation whenapplying changes, but each sandbox object can be manipulated by the userwith a single simple transformation relative to the top level coordinatespace.

FIGS. 2A-2G illustrate how a sandbox can be used for transparent editingin accordance with some embodiments described herein. In FIG. 2A, object“C” with coordinates {{1 1} {6 8}} in the coordinate space of block “B”can be loaded into the sandbox as shape {{8 5}{13 12}} in terms of thecoordinate space of top-level design “A.” The user may move object “C”(the movement corresponds to applying a delta of {8 6} to the twocorners of object “C”) to the new location that is shown by a dashedrectangle in FIG. 2A. After applying delta {8 6}, the object “C”rectangle becomes {{16 11} {21 18}} in terms of the coordinate space oftop-level design “A.” After reverse transforming the new coordinates ofobject “C” into the block “B” coordinate space, object “C” isrepresented as rectangle {{9 7} {14 14}} in block “B” coordinate space,which is shown in FIG. 2B. Note that, when the circuit design data issaved, object “C” is saved in terms of the coordinate space of block“B,” i.e., as rectangle {{9 7} {14 14}}, within the data portioncorresponding to block “B.” However, when the user moved object “C”using the GUI, the software tool manipulated the representation in thesandbox where object “C” was represented in terms of the coordinatespace of top-level design “A,” i.e., as rectangle {{16 11} {21 18}}.

In FIG. 2C, object “C” with coordinates {{1 1} {6 8}} in block “B”coordinate space can be loaded into the sandbox as shape {{8 5} {13 12}}in terms of the top design “A” coordinate space. Then, as shown in FIG.2C, a user may resize object “C,” which corresponds to applying a deltaof {2 3} to its upper right corner, thereby resulting in rectangle {{85} {15 15}}. After reverse transforming the new coordinates of object“C” into the block “B” coordinate space, the new shape can berepresented as rectangle {{1 1} {8 11}}, which is depicted in FIG. 2D.

By allowing instances in multiple physical contexts to be transformedwith a single operation this also allows powerful multi-block editingoperations such as in FIG. 2E, in which a single transform at the toplevel is applied to instances contained within two different blocks. Inthe example shown in FIG. 2E, blocks “C” and “E” are both selected andstart out aligned on their bottom edges. The user then moves them with asingle vector (the two parallel arrows that move blocks “C” and “E” inFIG. 2E) relative to the top block, and the circuit design editingsystem (which uses the sandbox infrastructure) automatically translatesthe transformation into the appropriate block context when applying thechanges.

The sandbox infrastructure can generally be used for any operation.Specifically, besides object modification, the sandbox infrastructurecan be used for object creation. In order to create an object in a“virtually flat block hierarchy,” the user has to specify two things.First, the user has to specify the parent block or context where theobject has to be created (context selection for object creation isdescribed below). Second, the user has to specify the object shape interms of top design coordinate space. Upon completion of objectcreation, the object shape coordinates can be transformed by the sandboxinfrastructure from the top-level coordinate space to the coordinatespace of the block where the object resides. Finally, the modifiedobject (i.e., the newly created object in this example) is can be savedwithin the context of the block in which it was created.

In FIG. 2F, newly created object “C” has coordinates {{8 5} {13 12} inthe sandbox infrastructure (note that these coordinates are in terms ofthe top-level design “A” coordinate space). Before saving the newlycreated object “C” as part of the circuit design data, therepresentation of object “C” in the sandbox is transformed into theparent block “B” coordinate space. Specifically, in the parent block “B”coordinate space, object “C” is represented as rectangle {{1 1} {6 8}}as depicted in FIG. 2G. This representation, i.e., rectangle {{1 1} {68}}, can then be stored as part of the circuit design data.

FIG. 2H illustrates a process for editing an object in a circuit designthat has multiple physical hierarchy levels in accordance with someembodiments described herein. The process can begin by creating a secondobject based on a first object in the circuit design, wherein saidcreating comprises applying a sequence of one or more geometrictransformations to the first object (operation 252). In this disclosure,the term “object” generally refers to any editable circuit element.Therefore, block “B” and object “C” in FIGS. 2A-2G are both “objects”under this definition. The term “second object” can refer to a sandboxobject, i.e., an object that is loaded or created in the sandboxinfrastructure. The geometric transformations can correspond to thephysical hierarchy levels as explained above in reference to the sandboxinfrastructure.

Next, the process can apply one or more edits to the second object(e.g., based on user input) to obtain an edited second object (operation254). The edits can include, but are not limited to, translation (seee.g., FIG. 2A), resizing (see e.g., FIG. 2C), new object creation (seee.g., FIG. 2F), rotation, etc. The process can then apply the sequenceof one or more geometric transformations in reverse order to the editedsecond object to obtain an edited first object (operation 256). Asexplained above, the sequence of one or more geometric transformationscan be stored in the sandbox infrastructure, and can be associated withthe sandbox object. FIGS. 2A-2G and the associated text provide multipleexamples of how the sequence of one or more geometric transformationscan be applied in reverse order to the edited second object to obtain anedited first object. Next, the process can save the edited first objectin the circuit design (operation 258).

Context Selection and Hierarchy Scope

Some embodiments feature techniques and systems for selecting propercontext (physical hierarchy level) for creating objects. Specifically,some embodiments provide two distinct ways to specify the context:textual and interactive.

In textual form of input, the user can enter the full object name whichincludes the names of every parent up to the top of the hierarchy. Forexample, the full name for object “C” in FIG. 1C is “A/B/C” (assumingthat the forward slash symbol is used as the hierarchy delimiter), andlikewise the full name for block “B” is “A/B.”

In interactive form of input, the user can place a mouse cursor withinthe object shape and click to select the object shape for an editingoperation. If multiple objects overlap at the location of the cursor,then a set of priority rules can be used to select the object fordetermining context. Specifically, the following priority rules can beapplied: (1) select the object whose edge is nearest to the cursorlocation, and (2) if several object edges are at the same distance fromthe cursor, then select the object that is located deeper in thehierarchy.

Some embodiments can provide a visual feedback for objects to beselected on a mouse click (this capability is referred to as “preview”).Specifically, as a mouse (or generally any pointing mechanism) hoversover the object to be selected, the object's boundary can be drawn witha dotted pattern, and a tooltip popup can be used in the corner of thewindow with brief information about the object, such as object type,object name, parent name and level.

There can always be situations where all things are equal and the objectthat was automatically selected by the system based on the cursorlocation is not the one desired by the user. In these situations, someembodiments can allow the user to cycle through all overlapping objectsunder the cursor. However, some embodiments extend this familiarparadigm in a novel way. Specifically, the cycling between all of theobjects that are potential candidates for selection is now allowedthrough objects in different contexts. To engage the cyclingfunctionality, in some embodiments the user can activate the acceleratorkey (which can be defined based on the user's preferences). The order ofthe objects that are cycled through can be determined based on a set ofpriority rules, e.g., those that were described above. Once the desiredobject has been selected, the user can use the pointing mechanism toconfirm the selection.

Some embodiments described herein can constrain edit operationsperformed on the object based on the hierarchy scope that the objectbelongs to. The hierarchy scope can include all object neighbors, theparent block boundary, and all child hierarchies of the parent block.When an object is being edited (i.e., moved, resized, etc.), the objectshape has to stay within the boundary of the parent block. Someembodiments can ensure that an edit operation does not cause the objectto move outside the boundary of the parent block. The edited objectsnapping (this feature is also known as the process of sticking objectsto other objects during move/resize) is also limited to objects withinthe same hierarchy scope.

Logical Connection Analysis

In integrated circuit physical design, circuit elements (e.g., logicgates) are connected to other circuit elements. The logical connectionbetween circuit elements is called a net, and it is usually shown in aphysical layout as an arrow between the circuit elements. The physicalconnection between two circuit elements is called a route. A routecomprises a set of rectangular shapes which overlap with each other, andthe connecting points between the circuit elements are called pins. Anet can connect pins inside a block and outside the block, which isexplained below. Some embodiments described herein can analyze logicalconnections between circuit elements (logic gates, blocks, etc.) indifferent hierarchies.

FIG. 3A illustrates a connection across multiple hierarchies inaccordance with some embodiments described herein. In FIG. 3A, there arethree net connections displayed across three hierarchies, and each netconnection is shown as a line with an arrow in the middle of the line.Net 302 is an internal net in block “B” that connects a pin of object“C” with a pin of block “B.” Net 304 is an external net with respect toblocks “B” and “G,” and connects a pin of block “B” with a pin of block“G.” Net 306 is an internal net in block “G” that connects a pin ofblock “G” with a pin of object “F.” Nets 302, 304, and 306 takentogether represent a path of a signal from object “C” to object “F.” Thearrows represent the signal direction.

The process of finding a path, such as the one shown in FIG. 3A from apin in object “C” to a pin in object “F,” is called tracing. A tracingoperation can be performed between any two pins in the circuit design.For a given object pin, the tracing process can look at all other pinsthat are connected to it by a net. For each block pin the process cantake into consideration two types of nets: internal and external.

Some embodiments described herein feature a process for tracing a netthat allows a user to skip hierarchies and see the signal destinationacross multiple levels of hierarchy. FIG. 3B illustrates a netconnection that skips hierarchies in accordance with some embodimentsdescribed herein. In FIG. 3B, the same two object pins have beenselected for tracing as in FIG. 3A, namely the pins of objects “C” and“F.” In other words, some embodiments described herein create analternate definition for the net. This alternate definition can bereferred to as the “transparent net” because it skips block boundaries.For example, transparent net 308 connects pin of object “C” in block “B”with a pin of object “F” in block “G.” A “transparent net” can be usedfor creation of the physical connection between two pins, and can beautomatically mapped onto the actual hierarchical net (i.e., transparentnet 308 in FIG. 3B can be automatically mapped to nets 302, 304, and 306shown in FIG. 3A).

FIG. 3C illustrates a process for displaying a logical connection in acircuit design in accordance with some embodiments described herein. Theprocess can begin by tracing a connection from a first circuit object toa second circuit object in the circuit design, wherein the connectionpasses through at least one physical hierarchy boundary (operation 352).Next, the process can display a direct line (e.g., a straight linehaving an arrow that indicates signal flow direction—for example seetransparent net 308 in FIG. 3B) from the first circuit object to thesecond circuit object in a visual representation of the circuit design(operation 354).

Cross Hierarchical Routing

Some embodiments can create physical connections at multiple levels ofhierarchy. This feature can be referred to as “cross hierarchicalrouting.” Upon completion of logical net connections analysis, a usermay want to connect circuit elements in the circuit design with oneanother using physical connections or routes. The physical path (i.e.,the route that the wire takes through the circuit design) has to followthe logical net connections.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate cross hierarchical routing in accordance withsome embodiments described herein. As described above, some embodimentscan select a context based on a cursor location while creating theroute. As shown in FIG. 4A, a user can select a pin of object “C.” Notethat object “C” resides within block “B.” Then, the user can use the GUIto manually create the route by laying down the route within block “B”as depicted in FIG. 4A. All routes created by the user are associatedwith a logical net that connects the pin of object “C” with the pin ofblock “B.”

Some embodiments can display a nearest unconnected pin from the currentposition of the mouse cursor (or generally the current position of apointing mechanism) during manual route creation. Specifically, thevisual object that is used for displaying the nearest unconnected pincan be referred to as “open flylines.” For example, in FIG. 4A, theposition of mouse cursor 402 is at the top of thick line 404 whichrepresents the route that has been started from pin 406 of object “C.”Open flyline 408 points to nearest unconnected pin 410 of block “B.”

Upon completion of routing within block “B,” user can continue routingbetween blocks “B” and “G” as depicted in FIG. 4B. In this phase, theroutes are created at the top level, i.e., within the hierarchy level ofdesign “A.” Open flyline 412 can be displayed from the tip of the routecreated so far to the nearest unconnected pin of block “G.” Open flyline412 indicates the direction where the route should go, thereby helpingthe user to easily create the route.

Note that the system can automatically select the correct context basedon the cursor location. Specifically, when the user creates a route thatspans across multiple hierarchy levels, the system can automaticallyselect the appropriate context as the user moves the cursor along thepath of the route. As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the system automaticallyselected the context of block “B” when the user created the route fromthe pin of object “C” to the pin of block “B,” and then the systemautomatically selected the top level context when the user started tocreate the route from the pin of block “B” to the pin of block “G.”

These embodiments are significantly more user friendly than conventionaltools for editing circuit designs. In conventional tools, a user wouldhave had to push into block “B” using Edit-In-Place, route theconnection from “C” to “B,” then pop out to the top level to routebetween “B” and “G,” and then push into “G” to route from “G” to “F.” Incontrast to this cumbersome use case, embodiments described herein donot require the user to manually navigate through the physical hierarchywhile creating the route. Instead, in embodiments described herein, theuser can create routes at different levels in the hierarchy directlyfrom the top level context, with the application taking care of thedetailed transformations and putting the objects in the appropriatephysical context by using the automatic context selection process and byusing the sandbox infrastructure that were described above.

In integrated circuit physical design, block pins have dual presentationas they connect with two nets: internal and external. Thus they have ashape which is presented at block level and same shape presented at theparent hierarchy level. This allows effectively pick the routing contextusing the cycling method described above. Specifically, as the mousecursor hovers over the block pin, the internal pin shape may beinitially picked for selection which is indicated by a tooltip graphicalobject in the GUI. As user hits the key associated with the cyclingfunction, the external pin shape may be picked and the associatedinformation may be displayed. At that point, the user may click themouse, thereby confirming the selection of the external shape which, inturn, starts routing the connection at the upper level.

Upon completion of the top level routing, the user can continue routingwithin block “G” as depicted in FIG. 4C. As explained above, theappropriate context is automatically selected so that the routes arecreated at the block “G” level and associated with a logical netconnecting the pin of block “G” with the pin of object “F.” As shown inFIG. 4C, an open flyline from the tip of the route created so far tonearest unconnected pin in object “F” can be used to indicate thedirection where the route should go. In FIG. 4D, the physicalconnections from object “C” in block “B” to object “F” in block “G” iscomplete. As explained above, the actual routes were created at threehierarchy levels, and they correspond to the logical connections thatwere illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3B.

FIG. 4E illustrates a process for facilitating cross hierarchicalrouting in accordance with some embodiments described herein. Theprocess can begin by receiving a cursor location that indicates an endof a partially routed physical connection from a first object to asecond object in a circuit design layout (operation 452). For example,in FIG. 4A, cursor location 402 indicates the end of partially routedphysical connection that is represented by thick line 404. Next, theprocess can determine a suggested route to extend a partially routedphysical connection based on a current physical hierarchy context(operation 454). For example, in FIG. 4A, the process can determine openflyline 408 which is a suggested route to extend a partially routedphysical connection based on a current physical hierarchy context. Theprocess can then display the suggested route in a visual representationof the circuit design (operation 456), e.g., the process can displayopen flyline 408 in a visual representation of the circuit design asshown in FIG. 4A.

Transparent Hierarchical Routing

Some embodiments feature another approach for creating physicalconnections, which is referred to as transparent hierarchical routing.In this approach, an embodiment can begin by analyzing the logicalnetlist to find endpoints for the connectivity of the net as depicted inFIGS. 3A-3B (as noted above, this process is referred to as tracing).While tracing the logical connection, the connection may cross physicalhierarchies and/or cross gates (e.g., buffers, level shifters, etc.)that do not change the logical value of the signal. At the end of thetracing process, the embodiments has a set of points that need to beconnected by the physical route and the points to be skipped. In otherwords, the embodiments essentially determines a new “transparent net”that will be used as the net to be routed. For example, by analyzing thecircuit design shown in FIG. 3B, an embodiment can determine transparentnet 308 that logically connects the pins on objects “C” and “F” withinthe top level context of design “A.”

Next, the transparent hierarchical routing process can create routingshapes to physically connect the terminal points that were determined inthe previous step. The created shapes can be “owned” by the level in thephysical hierarchy that is common to all parts of the transparent netthat was connected. In many cases, the common level will be the toplevel in the design.

The embodiments can then automatically transform the routing shapes fromthe transparent net by transforming the transparent net objects toproperly consume the route that has been generated. Specifically, theautomatic transformation can include the following operations: (1) movetransparent gates to be along the routes, (2) create physical pins onphysical hierarchies traversed transparently, and (3) partition therouting objects to be assigned to appropriate nets in the properphysical scopes.

In the life cycle of integrated circuit physical design, the circuitdesign goes through different stages. At some stages of the design, theblock pin shapes could be either undefined or placed sub-optimally forphysical routing. As a result of sub optimal pin placement, the routemay take an unnecessary detour as depicted in FIG. 4D. Note that thephysical connection from the pin in object “C” to the pin in object “F”goes higher up along the right edge of block “B” than it needs to, whichcreates an unnecessary detour for the route. This issue can be fixed, asexplained below, by the using transparent hierarchical routing.

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate transparent hierarchical routing in accordancewith some embodiments described herein. As shown in FIG. 5A, thestarting point for routing can be chosen using the same approach asdescribed above. Applying the results of tracing the netlist, the routescan be created between objects “C” and “F” by directly skipping blockpins of blocks “B” and “G.” The resulting situation is shown in FIG. 5B.At this point, all created routes are associated with the top level netof design “A.” In FIG. 5B, the net which was created based on tracingthe netlist logically connects blocks “B” and “G.” However, note thatthe physical connection 502 illustrated in FIG. 5B is invalid from alogical standpoint. This physical connection represents an intermediatestate of the design. The physical connection will be corrected asexplained below to result in the final physical connection that will bevalid.

Next, the top level routing can be pushed down the hierarchy as shown inFIG. 5C. Specifically, this step can involve: (1) cutting the top levelrouting (i.e., physical connection 502) at the intersections with block“B” and “G” boundaries, (2) placing pins 504 and 506 for blocks “B” and“G,” respectively, at the intersection points, (3) moving routes thatoverlap blocks “B” and “G” boundaries from the top level design “A” intoblocks “B” and “G,” respectively, and (4) associating the moved routeswith the corresponding nets of blocks “B” and “G.” Upon completion ofthe above-described push down process, the physical connections 508,510, and 512 match the corresponding logical connections. Moreover, notethat this process has resulted in an optimal connection in terms oflength, which reduces signal delays and increases the overall speed ofthe integrated circuit. Specifically, note that the total length of thephysical connection between objects “C” and “F” in FIG. 5C is less thanthe total length of the physical connection between objects “C” and “F”in FIG. 4D.

FIG. 5D illustrates a process for transparent hierarchical routing inaccordance with some embodiments described herein. The process can beginby tracing a logical connection from a first circuit object to a secondcircuit object in the circuit design, wherein the logical connectionpasses through at least one physical hierarchy boundary (operation 552).Next, the process can create a physical connection corresponding to thelogical connection in a physical hierarchy context that is common toboth the first circuit object and the second circuit object (operation554). For example, the process can create physical connection 502illustrated in FIG. 5B. The process can then push down the physicalconnection into physical hierarchy levels along the physical connectionroute (operation 556). Pushing down the physical connection intophysical hierarchy levels along the physical connection route cancomprise (1) moving transparent gates to be along the physicalconnection route, (2) creating physical pins on physical hierarchy blockboundaries along the physical connection route, (3) partitioning thephysical connection at the physical hierarchy boundaries to obtainrouting objects, and (4) assigning each routing object to acorresponding net in each physical hierarchy along the physicalconnection route. For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, the process can pushdown physical connection 502 along the route of physical connection 502to obtain (1) pins 504 and 506 and (2) physical connections 508, 510,and 512 that match the corresponding logical connections (or nets) inthe respective physical hierarchy contexts.

Maintaining Physical Connectivity Across Hierarchy Boundaries

Maintaining physical connectivity while editing is a key productivityaid. However, this capability is contained within a scope of singleblock in conventional tools and is not available across multiplehierarchies. Some embodiments described herein maintain physicalconnectivity on a per-instance basis, thereby allowing objects that arephysically connected at other scopes to also have their connectivitymaintained. FIG. 6A illustrates how physical connectivity can bemaintained across multiple hierarchies in accordance with someembodiments described herein. In FIG. 6A, pin 602 of block “B” is moveddown along the edge of block “B” to a new location, and responsive tothis pin movement all connected routes inside and outside block “B” aremoved correspondingly. Specifically, inner route 604-1 is moved toobtain new inner route 604-2, and outer route 606-1 is moved to obtainnew outer route 606-2. Note that inner route 604-1 is in the context ofblock “B,” whereas outer route 606-1 is in the context of top leveldesign “A.”

In integrated circuit physical design, in order to achieve higher degreeof integration and fastest signal delivery, often the elements areplaced next to each other so that their shapes become abutted. In anabutted design, the routing between pins of abutted blocks is not needed(e.g., because the abutted blocks share a boundary). However, it isimportant to maintain the abutted status of objects when one of theobjects is moved. In the case when two abutted objects belong to twodifferent hierarchies, such maintenance is difficult and is typicallynot supported by conventional tools (i.e., the user may need to manuallyedit objects in the different hierarchies to ensure that the two objectsremain abutted). In contrast to conventional tools, some embodimentsdescribed herein can automatically ensure that abutted objects remainabutted when one of them is moved. FIG. 6B illustrates how abuttedobjects can be moved together in accordance with some embodimentsdescribed herein. Object “C” is in block “B” and object “E” is in block“D.” Note that objects “C” and “E” are abutting each other, and they arein different physical hierarchies. However, when object “C” is moved upwithin block “B,” some embodiments can automatically move object “E” upin block “D.”

FIG. 6C illustrates a process for maintaining physical connectivityacross hierarchical boundaries in accordance with some embodimentsdescribed herein. The process can begin by determining that a firstcircuit object has a physical connection with a second circuit object,wherein the physical connection crosses at least one physical hierarchyboundary (operation 652). Next, the process can receive a request toapply a first editing operation to the first circuit object (operation654). The process can then determine a second editing operation based onthe first editing operation (operation 656). Next, the process can applythe second editing operation to the second circuit object so that thephysical connection between the first circuit object and the secondcircuit object is maintained across the at least one physical hierarchyboundary (operation 658).

The term “IC design editing system” generally refers to a hardware basedsystem that facilitates editing of IC designs, and in particular thatfacilitates transparent editing of physical data in hierarchical ICdesigns. FIG. 7 illustrates an IC design editing system in accordancewith some embodiments described herein. IC design editing system 702 caninclude processor 704, memory 706, and storage device 708. Specifically,memory locations in memory 706 can be addressable by processor 704,thereby enabling processor 704 to access (e.g., via load/storeinstructions) and manipulate (e.g., via logical/floatingpoint/arithmetic instructions) the data stored in memory 706. IC designediting system 702 can be coupled to display device 714, keyboard 710,and pointing device 712. Storage device 708 can store operating system716, IC design editing software tool 718, and data 720. Data 720 caninclude input required by IC design editing software tool 718 and/oroutput generated by IC design editing software tool 718.

IC design editing system 702 may automatically (or with user help)perform one or more operations that are implicitly or explicitlydescribed in this disclosure. Specifically, IC design editing system 702can load IC design editing software tool 718 into memory 706, and ICdesign editing software tool 718 can then be used to transparently editphysical data in hierarchical IC designs.

The above description is presented to enable any person skilled in theart to make and use the embodiments. Various modifications to thedisclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in theart, and the general principles defined herein are applicable to otherembodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present disclosure. Thus, the present invention is not limited tothe embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistentwith the principles and features disclosed herein.

The data structures and code described in this disclosure can bepartially or fully stored on a computer-readable storage medium and/or ahardware module and/or hardware apparatus. A computer-readable storagemedium includes, but is not limited to, volatile memory, non-volatilememory, magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives,magnetic tape, CDs (compact discs), DVDs (digital versatile discs ordigital video discs), or other media, now known or later developed, thatare capable of storing code and/or data. Hardware modules or apparatusesdescribed in this disclosure include, but are not limited to,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), dedicated or shared processors, and/or otherhardware modules or apparatuses now known or later developed.

The methods and processes described in this disclosure can be partiallyor fully embodied as code and/or data stored in a computer-readablestorage medium or device, so that when a computer system reads andexecutes the code and/or data, the computer system performs theassociated methods and processes. The methods and processes can also bepartially or fully embodied in hardware modules or apparatuses, so thatwhen the hardware modules or apparatuses are activated, they perform theassociated methods and processes. Note that the methods and processescan be embodied using a combination of code, data, and hardware modulesor apparatuses.

The foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the present invention havebeen presented only for purposes of illustration and description. Theyare not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention tothe forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and variations willbe apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. Additionally, the abovedisclosure is not intended to limit the present invention. The scope ofthe present invention is defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause thecomputer to perform a method to facilitate routing of a physicalconnection, the method comprising: displaying a physical layout of acircuit design in a graphical user interface (GUI); receiving a locationin the GUI that specifies an end of a partial route of a connection froma first object to a second object in the circuit design; determining asuggested destination to extend the partial route of the connectionbased on a current physical hierarchy context; and displaying a visualindicator in the GUI that specifies the suggested destination to extendthe partial route of the connection.
 2. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the method furthercomprises: receiving a first selection of a pin of a block in thephysical layout of the circuit design; presenting, by using the GUI,multiple physical hierarchy contexts associated with the pin; andreceiving a second selection of the current physical hierarchy contextfrom the multiple physical hierarchy contexts.
 3. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the multiplephysical hierarchy contexts include (1) an internal physical hierarchycontext in which connections between the pin and circuit objects insidethe block are made, and (2) an external physical hierarchy context inwhich connections between the pin and circuit objects outside the blockare made.
 4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 1, wherein determining the suggested destination to extend thepartial route of the connection based on the current physical hierarchycontext comprises determining an unconnected pin in the current physicalhierarchy context that is nearest to the location in the physicallayout.
 5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim1, wherein receiving the location in the GUI comprises receiving acurrent location of a cursor in the GUI.
 6. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein displaying thevisual indicator in the GUI comprises displaying a line from thelocation to the suggested destination.
 7. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the connection fromthe first object to the second object in the circuit design passesthrough at least one physical hierarchy boundary.
 8. A method tofacilitate routing of a physical connection, the method comprising:displaying a physical layout of a circuit design in a graphical userinterface (GUI); receiving a location in the GUI that specifies an endof a partial route of a connection from a first object to a secondobject in the circuit design; determining a suggested destination toextend the partial route of the connection based on a current physicalhierarchy context; and displaying a visual indicator in the GUI thatspecifies the suggested destination to extend the partial route of theconnection.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method furthercomprises: receiving a first selection of a pin of a block in thephysical layout of the circuit design; presenting, by using the GUI,multiple physical hierarchy contexts associated with the pin; andreceiving a second selection of the current physical hierarchy contextfrom the multiple physical hierarchy contexts.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the multiple physical hierarchy contexts include (1) aninternal physical hierarchy context in which connections between the pinand circuit objects inside the block are made, and (2) an externalphysical hierarchy context in which connections between the pin andcircuit objects outside the block are made.
 11. The method of claim 8,wherein determining the suggested destination to extend the partialroute of the connection based on the current physical hierarchy contextcomprises determining an unconnected pin in the current physicalhierarchy context that is nearest to the location in the physicallayout.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the location in theGUI comprises receiving a current location of a cursor in the GUI. 13.The method of claim 8, wherein displaying the visual indicator in theGUI comprises displaying a line from the location to the suggesteddestination.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the connection from thefirst object to the second object in the circuit design passes throughat least one physical hierarchy boundary.
 15. An apparatus, comprising:a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theapparatus to perform a method to facilitate routing of a physicalconnection, the method comprising: displaying a physical layout of acircuit design in a graphical user interface (GUI); receiving a locationin the GUI that specifies an end of a partial route of a connection froma first object to a second object in the circuit design; determining asuggested destination to extend the partial route of the connectionbased on a current physical hierarchy context; and displaying a visualindicator in the GUI that specifies the suggested destination to extendthe partial route of the connection.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15,wherein the method further comprises: receiving a first selection of apin of a block in the physical layout of the circuit design; presenting,by using the GUI, multiple physical hierarchy contexts associated withthe pin; and receiving a second selection of the current physicalhierarchy context from the multiple physical hierarchy contexts.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the multiple physical hierarchy contextsinclude (1) an internal physical hierarchy context in which connectionsbetween the pin and circuit objects inside the block are made, and (2)an external physical hierarchy context in which connections between thepin and circuit objects outside the block are made.
 18. The apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein determining the suggested destination to extend thepartial route of the connection based on the current physical hierarchycontext comprises determining an unconnected pin in the current physicalhierarchy context that is nearest to the location in the physicallayout.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein receiving the location inthe GUI comprises receiving a current location of a cursor in the GUI.20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein displaying the visual indicatorin the GUI comprises displaying a line from the location to thesuggested destination.